So called to distinguish them from plain, roasted, boiled, or fried
meat; are usually composed of flesh, fish, poultry, or vegetables,
stewed with gravy, butter, cream, or other savoury sauces. The
composition of made dishes is generally from printed or written
receipts, except when done by what are termed professed cooks, who,
understanding completely their business, follow their own judgment, in
aid of the receipt. There is a mistake very common in supposing that
there is a great difficulty in cooking such dishes, though there is
indeed much trouble; but if a mistake is made, it can in general be
remedied, which is not the case in the mere simple operations of
roasting and boiling, where a mistake is very often irreparable.
When we take a view of the chemical composition of made dishes, we soon
perceive that they are all compounds of animal and vegetable substances,
rendered sapid or agreeable to the palate by strong decoctions of meat,
gravy, and spices, of various descriptions; all of them abound in
animal gelatine and vegetable mucilage, or farinaceous matter, rendered
soluble in water. The quantity of spices is generally small, “[29]their
presence should be rather supposed than perceived, they are the
invisible spirit of good cookery.”
[29] Dr. Kitchiner’s Cook’s Oracle, p. 493.